Natalie and I carried on the next morning and sadly left our friend Nicole behind. We had chosen to do the Spiritual Variant which involved less walking but more climbing and a boat ride along the same route they took the body of St. James after the boat originally carrying his body capsized during a storm in 44 AD. The estuary of Arousa was crossed by the ship carrying the body of the apostle St. James. His remains were taken by his followers, who ”led by an angel and guided by a star” arrived at the coast of Galicia and climbed the bed of the river Ulla until reaching Iria Flavia (now the village of Padrón).

The day did not start out well as we got big time confused with lack of good signage...as well as lack of language skills ..lolol (were even more missing our friend Nicole who spoke FLUENT SPANISH) We walked up and down a nasty carfume infused main street with a hill 3 times before we got it that we had to go through a park at the top of the hill to get on the Camino again. Once we finally did, it was still UNCLEAR but we managed!

Lots of climbing after that and it was getting hot, my right foot was hurting BIG TIME and we still had major klms. to go! At one point I just had to pull the plug that day and get back down to the street and take a bus to Redondella, (about 5 klms) leaving Natalie to walk through a high forest by herself...

I was able to get to the hostel and luckily got a bunk and secured one for Natalie as well and magically found a neighbourhood podiatrist to look at my foot! Massage really helped but they recommended rest...sorry, not happening..lolo we had a deadline to meet in Santiago and had to stick to the PLAN to be there on time. So the best I could do was to take another day off and bus to the next stop which was Pontevedra, the last town before the BIG CLIMB

It was a gloomy and cool day when we set out the next morning. My foot was still sore but with a combo of Tiger Balm and CBD cream I carried on. We stoped for coffee with a friend that Natalie had met from Surrey BC named Carla and the 3 of us walked together that day till the splitting off point for the Spiritual Variant where we went left and she went right.

Great day and ended up at lunch for a MAGICAL time before our 450meter climb to the top of the mountain...the biggest climb of the whole Camino for me and some Stunning views! What a day it was... but we kept atter totally just the 2 of us most of the way. I thought I was going to die...lolol and we were both glad we were together for sure!❤️

Forgot to mention, that after the FOOT thing, I decided that I was no longer going to carry my pack..so for 5€ per leg, I had my backpack forwarded to the next hostel...LIKE BUTTA! It sure helped me to walk and really was a life saver.

We arrived late afternoon at the Municipal Albergue in Armenteira and celebrated with Champagne and a lovely dinner. What a feat it was for me!!!! I don't even think my head hit the pillow till I was sleeping that night, despite the heavy snoring by my French neighbour..lolol

The graffiti line “Everything is Possible on this Camino....BAM!” That we saw earlier that day stuck with me to the end of the day for sure❣️